What It Means:

"Minnesota executives are telling teams that Butler's an elite player and that the franchise intends to keep him," Wojnarowski writes in the wake of the four-time All-Star's trade request this week. Timberwolves head coach/president of basketball operations Tim Thibodeau wants to keep Butler to better the team's chances of winning now, but that runs the risk of letting him walk for nothing in free agency next summer. Butler turned 29 earlier this month.

Butler averaged 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.2 3-pointers on a career-high 47.4 field goal percentage for the Timberwolves last season.